La Salle Col mistakes need fixing

[SSSdave]

Some here need to do some work. Information on a removed crosscountry pass web site was wrong and that led others herein to compound the misinformation. What cgundersen is calling Feather-light Pass is what was supposed to be LaSalle Col though because that old website is gone, one cannot look at what it showed except that it was class 2.

Secor's book doesn't show anything for that saddle however our HST map shows Merriam Lake at the saddle to Seven Gables Lake that Secor called Merriam Pass class 3 that ought be fixed. Roper's book only mentions Feather Pass. Next from Secor is Ruskie Pass that brings one to the ridge between Seven Gables Lakes and Vee Lakes basin that though is class 2 is a long tedious route to escape from, and then after the wrong saddle is well known Feather Pass. Snow fields along La Salle Lake's shore can make the Feather Pass route unpleasant while the pass north of La Salle lake has no such issues with a gentle north side.

That saddle has been discussed herein in the past and I looked at this a couple decades ago. Here is one on page 2:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11749&p=88995&hilit=den+lake#p88995

Here is our La Salle Col page below that needs to be fixed. Where alpinemike painfully descended is obviously not the correct pass he had bogus info for. There is no reason to call that saddle La Salle Col because it is down canyon from the lake with that name while the obvious class 2 pass north of La Salle Lake going to Den Lake is what any experienced backpacker using a topo would obviously use and why it is so cairned. The map shows the incorrect pass is likely to have cornice conditions on its north side well into most summers.

viewtopic.php?f=31&t=11666

Here is cgundersen's recent entry for Feather-light pass that now needs to be moved into the La Salle Col entry, rebuilt, as well as mistakes on our HST map.

viewtopic.php?f=31&t=21608

[druid]

The third edition of Secor (2009) says La Salle Col is at 11960+ on the 7.5 topo and 0.4 mi SW of La Salle Lake. This closely matches the current location on the HST map. The pass cgundersen refers to as "feather-light" is at 12200+ and NW of La Salle Lake. I won't argue with you that "feather-light" is a much better route into Bear Lake Basin and it's curious that Secor ed3 doesn't list it.

The reference to Merriam Pass as "Merriam Lake" is an obvious typo.

[cgundersen]

Hi Dave,
Your exchange with Alpinemike was a great read, and I gotta say, having given the currently designated La Salle col a good hard look as we were heading up to La Salle lake, anyone who goes over that ridge definitely is in for a challenging climb. As you point out, our hop over "Feather-light" (the "real" La Salle col) was appreciably easier. And, I guess that's the whole point. If folks are looking for a more-harrowing experience, Russkie and the currently labeled La Salle col should be amply satisfying. If you just want to get into Bear Lake basin, Feather-light aka La Salle col make for a great solution. Hopefully, the HST moderators can capture this distinction.......Cameron

[SSSdave]

What I think likely happened is between my earlier Secor edition and yours, the Secor folks updating their pass list for a new edition noticed this "La Salle Col" on the pass and col list of the now ended website and then Secor added it but did NOT look at it carefully enough to notice it was obviously described in the wrong place. In fact it probably wasn't Secor himself haha. There are many neat routes in this basin only those that get out and explore are going to find. For instance instead of on the route in coming into Vee Lake the regular outlet route, last 3 trips carrying 4x5 view camera weight backpacks, we friction climbed the slabs on the east side of the Little Bear Lake creek popping out near the pond right of the E in SIERRA

Backpackers have been using the 12360+ col just as long as Feather Pass because it is an obvious route for any of us that look at topos. As noted, I do recall looking at that 2 or 3 decades ago on trips. On one trip, cool clear breezy at sunset 3 of us climbed up past Den Lake to the north rib of peak 12840+ to watch intense sunset light on Feather Peak. Moonless and everything was inky black, sobering, stumbling back to camp with wimpy flashlights, thinking about what happens if a person gets lost at night away their camp spot. Something greatly impressed on my own nervous system on my very first backpack to Laurel Lake.